Is The PS4 Codenamed Orbis?

The next PlayStation console, the PS4, may be called (or codenamed) Orbis. The next-gen Sony console rumors come from Kotaku's sources and reveal a holiday 2013 release date.

According to Kotaku's sources, Orbis will have an AMD x64 CPU and an AMD Southern Islands GPU, a high-end PC card. The Orbis would also have a resolution of 4096x2160. Most households don't have HDTVs that are capable of displaying that, yet. The Orbis will be powerful enough to play 3D games in 1080p.

That's all the good news. The bad news: The system reportedly won't be backwards compatible with PS3 titles. If you think that's surprising, then you're not going to like this. The Orbis will have some type of feature that will prevent gamers from playing used games. Supposedly, games will be purchased on a Blu-ray disc or via PSN download and only be playable on one PSN account. It's not clear how Sony would limit the use of retail copies. It's possible a used copy would only give you access to a trial of the game.

So what does Orbis mean? Wikipedia says it's a Doctor Who audio play. That doesn't help us at all unless Kaz Hirai will be the 12th Doctor. In Latin Orbis means "circle, orb, ring, disk, orbit, coil/ round / rotation." This could indicate the shape, the logo of the console. Orbis could just be the codename, similar to the Kinect's first name: Natal.

No matter what it's called, I'm going to be honest; this doesn't sound like a console I would buy. The anti-used games policy seems to punish gamers. The Orbis is rumored to be a few years away, but Song will still have a strong showing at E3 2012. Are these the features you want from the PS4?